Make a New Year’s Habit Not a New Year’s Resolution for 2017

The traditional ritual at the beginning of each new year is to make a resolution.
But I resolved a long time ago NOT to make resolutions upon the turn of the new year.
I actually do something similar to “making resolutions” throughout my year.
If you substitute the word “new habit” for “resolution” you will have a year of positive change in a way that is doable and sustainable.
Add in a new habit, a mini-step toward your better you, every few months and you’ve got yourself a year you can look back on and see your progress.
Commit to it for a year. Anyone can add in a reasonable small habit for a year.
I will give you a few examples of mine from last year.

In May

In May I added in the habit of 15 minutes of meditation each morning.
I am still going strong with that and have only missed about 5 days since May, and those were days that I was traveling.
It works best when I roll out of bed and into a lotus position on the floor.

In August

In August I resolved to do 2 hours of learning to code per day. This goes right after meditation unless I have an early work day. Then I do it later in the day. I add the study hours to my calendar every day after I do them. I have only missed 17 days, again due to travel or long work hours.
Also in August, I resolved to wake up between 5-6am every morning so that I could fit these new activities in.
I have also been able to maintain this habit most mornings. There are a few where I have to go to an event that will cause me to get to bed at a late hour, and coding on 3 hours sleep is not great for me. Very little learning ensues because I usually end up spending all my time troubleshooting my code rather than learning new techniques.
And that is the beauty of a habit.

Six Months Later

Six months into the habit I can look at it, see what is not working, and tweak the habit.
After a year I will assess the worthiness of all three of these habits. If I feel that committing the time and energy offered a worthwhile return, I will continue with them.
I am not saying you should do any of these things, but I am saying that for whatever you are seeking, there is a mini-step that you can incorporate into your life on a daily basis right NOW that will bring you closer to what you are wanting.
Make it big enough so that you feel you are progressing (and that will offer good emotional feedback for your progress), but small enough for you to feel that you can do it on a regular basis.
And then after you have been doing this new habit for a while, assess it, tweak it to improve it, or drop it if you feel it is not moving you forward toward what you are wanting.